Chapter 11 - rachel's name before hale)
Nobody spoke.
Rachel laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the alternative was screaming.
"That's impossible."
Vanessa looked at her.
"I wish it were."
Daniel stepped between them.
"Rachel grew up in Connecticut."
"That's what she remembers."
Rachel's eyes sharpened.
"Vanessa."
"You asked me why I stayed close to you for ten years."
Rachel stepped forward.
"Answer me."
"Because someone asked me to."
"Who?"
Vanessa looked at the photograph.
"Anna."
Rachel stopped breathing.
Daniel stared between them.
"Rachel, did you know Anna Mercer?"
"No."
"Think."
"I said no."
Vanessa spoke softly.
"Your birth name was Rachel Mercer."
"No."
"You were seventeen when your parents died."
"No."
"You and Anna were taken to different guardians."
"No."
"Stop."
"You lost contact after college."
"Stop."
"Rachel."
"I said stop!"
Rachel shoved the photograph from Vanessa's hand.
It hit the floor.
Rachel backed into the wall.
Daniel approached slowly.
"It's okay."
"No."
"Rachel."
"My parents are Caroline and Edward Bennett."
Vanessa's face filled with pain.
"They were your foster parents."
Rachel shook her head violently.
"I remember my childhood."
"Most of it."
Rachel stared at her.
The words landed too precisely.
Most of it.
She had gaps.
Everyone had gaps.
But hers suddenly felt different.
Daniel picked up the photograph.
Rachel looked younger than when he met her.
Maybe nineteen.
She stood beside Anna and Michael.
Daniel was in the picture too.
Yet Daniel had no memory of Rachel being there.
He looked at his wife.
"We met twelve years ago."
Rachel nodded desperately.
"At the museum fundraiser."
"What if we met before that?"
"No."
Vanessa whispered, "You did."
Daniel turned.
"How do you know?"
"Because Anna told me."
Quinn asked, "When?"
"After Graybridge began experimenting on Rachel."
Daniel's entire body went rigid.
"Rachel was a subject?"
Vanessa nodded.
"Not Subject Zero."
"Then what?"
"Subject One."
Rachel closed her eyes.
The room seemed to disappear.
A hospital.
White light.
Anna holding her hand.
A doctor asking Rachel to repeat a sequence of numbers.
Michael arguing outside a door.
Victor Caine saying, "The younger sister has stronger response."
Rachel screamed.
The memory vanished.
Daniel caught her before she fell.
"Rachel."
She opened her eyes.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I remember him."
"Victor?"
She nodded.
"I remember his voice."
Vanessa crouched.
"Rachel, Anna tried to get you out."
Rachel looked at her.
"Where is she?"
Vanessa's expression changed.
"I don't know."
"You said she asked you to stay close to me."
"She did."
"When?"
"Eleven years ago."
"After she disappeared?"
"She didn't disappear."
Daniel felt another piece move into place.
"She went into hiding."
Vanessa nodded.
"Michael helped her."
Quinn asked, "And Rachel?"
"Rachel's memories were altered more extensively. Anna believed taking her suddenly would cause Graybridge to hunt them both. So she created a new identity trail and waited."
Rachel's anger erupted.
"Waited for what?"
"Until she could get you safely away."
"She left me."
"She was trying to protect you."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Rachel stood.
"My husband kept secrets to protect me. You kept secrets to protect me. Michael drugged Daniel to protect him. Anna erased herself from my life to protect me."
Vanessa said nothing.
Rachel's voice broke.
"I am tired of being protected by lies."
Daniel reached for her.
She allowed it.
Quinn searched the room again.
Behind the headboard, technicians found a taped envelope.
RACHEL.
The handwriting belonged to Anna.
Rachel opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Rachel, if you find this before I can tell you myself, then Graybridge has begun collapsing.
I know you believe I abandoned you.
I did not.
I have watched over you in every way I safely could.
Vanessa knew only part of the truth.
Michael knew more.
Daniel knew you once, before both of you were altered.
Rachel looked at her husband.
Daniel read over her shoulder.
You and Daniel met at Hale Biomedical during your treatment.
He was kind to you.
You trusted him.
Victor considered that dangerous because Daniel began asking why an ordinary rehabilitation patient was being held in a restricted research wing.
That is why Daniel became a target.
Rachel sat slowly.
She continued reading.
After Michael moved me, Victor focused on you.
They changed your records.
They changed parts of your history.
Eventually, you built a new life.
Then years later, by impossible coincidence or perhaps something stronger, you met Daniel again.
Neither of you remembered the other.
But you fell in love anyway.
Rachel covered her mouth.
Daniel's eyes burned.
Anna continued.
I used to think that was cruel.
Now I think it is proof that Graybridge never understood people as well as it understood memory.
A final paragraph remained.
If Victor is looking for me again, it means he believes I still know where Director E is.
He is wrong.
I never knew.
But Rachel does.
Rachel lowered the letter.
Quinn looked at her.
"Do you?"
Rachel shook her head.
"I don't even know who Director E is."
Vanessa whispered, "Maybe that's the memory they were most afraid you'd recover."
Daniel's phone rang.
This time Victor didn't hide the number.
Daniel answered.
"You found the letter."
"Where is my mother?"
"Alive."
"Where is Anna?"
Victor paused.
Then laughed.
"You still think Anna is hiding."
Daniel's stomach tightened.
"What does that mean?"
"Ask Rachel what happened at Graybridge the night before Michael's fire."
Rachel's face drained of color.
Victor continued.
"She was there."
"No."
"She watched Anna die."
Rachel screamed, "He's lying."
Victor heard her.
"Hello, Rachel."
She snatched the phone.
"Where is my sister?"
Victor's voice softened.
"You buried her twelve years ago."
Rachel's hand began shaking.
"No."
May you like
"Would you like me to tell you where?"
The line went dead.
